1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally concerns a fitting for the fastening or lashing of ropes in order to secure cargo or freight or the like in or on trucks, aircraft, ships, railroad cars, or other vehicles and vessels. The present invention particularly concerns an elongate fitting made from metal or strong synthetic material, and having features that are used synergistically so as to permit the effective (i) tightening, and (ii) securing, of ropes by hand.
2. Background of the Invention
Numerous devices and methods are known for fastening or securing ropes, lines, chains, or other flexible linear members in order to secure cargo and freight to the beds, floors, or decks of vehicles, ships, and aircraft. These devices and methods are of varying effectiveness in (i) weight, (ii) speed of attachment, (iii) ease of attachment, (iv) tightness, or force, of attachment, (v) security of attachment, and against loosening, including attachment security during changes in spatial position and/or applied forces, (vi) strength, and/or (vii) cost. Often devices or methods that excel in one area prove mediocre, or deficient, in other areas.
A classic fitting for the securing of ropes or lines is a cleat, such as is typically abundantly used in the upperworks of the rigging of a sailboat. A cleat is strongly permanently attached to a surface such as a deck: a cleat is not used suspended in space such as by any attachment to ropes or lines. A cleat typically has a base which is mounted to a surface, a central support member extending perpendicularly from a central region of the base, and an elongate supported member extending from central support member in a plane parallel to the plane of the base and also to the surface to which the base is mounted. Normally the base, the support member and the supported member are integral, and are typically cast from strong metal. The cleat forms two "U"-shaped channels between its base and its supported member at both of two opposite sides of the support member. Ropes may be pulled smoothly through these channels, pulled tight, and then wrapped in the form of various knots, or ties, around both the support member and the supported member to secure the taut rope to the cleat.
A cleat is sufficiently effective so as to have endured in common use for hundreds of years, and millions of replications. It should be understood, however, that a cleat is generally limited to use in the securing of ropes to a surface. Moreover, attachment of ropes to a cleat requires some modest skill, or intelligence, on the part of a user. The user must properly pull tight the rope(s), and tie the knot(s), in order to correctly, and adequately, both (i) tension, and (ii) secure, the rope(s) to the cleat.
Meanwhile, an equally common, and classic, fitting is the eye hook. The eye hook is intended, unlike the cleat, for use in free space. An eye hook is normally fabricated as a unitary device having (i) a cable, or rope, terminal eye for engaging one or more cables or ropes, integrally connected to (ii) an oppositely disposed hook for engaging another eye or other object that is either fixed to a floor, deck, or other support (which is not necessarily planar), or which is itself held in space by further cables or ropes.
Cleats and eye hooks have each been combined with other fittings, and with each other. U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,554 for a COMBINATION CHOCK AND FAIRLEAD FITTING shows a recessed chock (cleat) in combination with a fairlead passage, particularly for use on boats. U.S. Pat. No. 1,328,985 for a CLEAT shows a cleat that is secured to the edge of a planar surface by a screw clamp. U.S. Pat. No. 3,291,094 for a CLEAT DEVICE FOR WATER BORNE VESSEL and U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,322 for a BOAT MOORING CLEAT each show specialized cleats adapted for nautical use. U.S. Pat. No. 2,649,069 for a BITT-CHOCK shows a specially-configured double cleat for locking an intertwined rope. U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,203 for a MULTIPLE POINT SECURING CLEAT show a cleat that incorporates a terminal eye.
Particular previous combinations of an eye hook and a cleat, as is the subject of the present invention, are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 622,084 for a HAME FASTENER, and in U.S. Pat. No. 2,386,836 for a CARGO TIE-DOWN FITTING. In the hame fastener the "eye" of the eye hook is replaced by a dovetail socket that receives and holds a loop end of a tie rope. The hame fastener mounts a cleat to the body of the eye hook (actually a hook and a dovetail groove) at that side of the eye hook toward which its hook opens. Conversely, the tie-down fitting mounts a cleat upon a side of the eye hook opposite to that side toward which its hook opens. However, in both the hame fastener and the cargo tie-down fitting the cleat is located in a position intermediary between the eye hook's "eye" and its hook.
In operation of both the previous name fastener and the previous cargo tie-down fitting a rope is looped through one of two channels formed between the two guide-lugs of the cleat and the body of the eye hook to which the cleat is affixed. The rope is then pulled taught, passed through the remaining channel, and tied to or looped about the cleat in a substantially normal manner. According to this manner of intended use, at least the first one, and normally both, of the channels formed between the guide lugs of the cleat, and the body of the eye hook to which the cleat is affixed, are sufficiently "U"-shaped so as to be capable of slipping a rope that passes therethrough in order to tighten the rope. To repeat, the channels of the previous fittings combining an eye hook with a cleat must be "U"-shaped, in the manner of a conventional cleat, because rope must slide within such channels. Meanwhile that the cleat is independently used to secure the rope, in the substantial manner of all cleats, the eye hook essentially performs a related, but independent, fastening function.
The present invention will be seen to be based on a better, and more compatible, integration of the function, and structure, of both an eye hook and a cleat. Such an improved integration will promote, among other advantages, a simple and fast, virtually foolproof, secure fastening of ropes such as are commonly used to secure cargo or the like in diverse applications.